I may have to put my girl down. Everything was cool on Tuesday, she was running around playing, we had a training session. The following morning I went to check on her and she was very lethargic and was having trouble breathing. My buddy helped me rush her to the vet and she was diagnosed with pneumonia. It looks like the pneumonia part is in the clear, however a new major issue is her hind leg lameness, she can't walk or stand on her own. The vet tech called me yesterday and said that she tore all of her nails on her back feet while trying to stand, blood was everywhere.
She doesn't even move her legs and when I flick her tail it's limp. The vet is concerned about possible nerve damage (but how though?). I did see her move her foot ever so slightly when I put a blanket over her after I brought her home, I bought an orthopedic bed for her so she can just be comfortable. She's alert, eating and drinking fine, and even tries to play but the pain meds and antibiotics make her a bit drowsy. Her feet and toes are really swollen from injury to her nails from trying to stand, even if she could stand she probably wouldn't be able to due to the swelling.
It's just crazy that she was running and jumping like nothing was wrong on Tuesday and them bam, this happens. She has had hip displaysia since she was young, she's a month shy of turning 8. Even with the hip problems she was a very athletic dog. I'm wracking my brain as to trying to figure out what happened, because even if a dog is in pain from hip or knee problems they can still move their back legs.
It's just a question of quality of life at this point, she is an older large breed dog and I hate for her to struggle and suffer. She's home and comfortable, no longer in that small ICU kennel. I'll continue to monitor her and look for signs of improvement, if not then I'll have to make that call with the vet, something I haven't prepared myself for.
An older pic and the most recent: